Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff (16) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, in Glendale, Ariz. The Rams won 32-16. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley leaves the field after an NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, in Glendale, Ariz. The Rams won 32-16. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

PHOENIX – When the Rams touched down in Phoenix on Saturday it had been 14 years since they’d last won at least nine games or hosted a home playoff game.

By the time they touched back down in Los Angeles on Sunday night, they’d already taken care of the whole nine-win thing – in the process guaranteed their first winning season since 2003 – and put themselves in the driver’s seat to host a playoff game in the first round of the playoffs.

All good, no doubt about it.

“I think it is a very cool thing to say that we have a winning season,” quarterback Jared Goff said.
“Long time and very cool.”

But wait, it gets even better.

Thanks to the Seattle Seahawks beating the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday night, the Rams suddenly find themselves in position to move into the second spot of the NFC playoff picture.

It requires no help from anyone else, either.

They just need to win their next game – against the Eagles – and they’ll claim , for now, possession of the second seed in the NFC, a bye through the first round of the playoffs and at least one home game thereafter.

Life moves pretty fast this time of the year in the NFL, as the Rams are learning.

The key is taking advantage.

And it’s not out of the question the Rams can do just that Sunday against Philadelphia.

As the Seahawks showed the football world this weekend, the Eagles aren’t unbeatable – in spite of the glossy 10-1 record they took to the Pacific Northwest. Of which just one win was against a current playoff team – the Wild Card Panthers – and both losses were to teams that, if the season ended today, would be in the postseason in the Seahawks and Chiefs

The body of work is good, but not so great they should be overly feared.

By every measure the Rams are just as good and, with the game being at the Coliseum Sunday, it’s hardly the crazy talk some make it that the Rams will prevail.

They didn’t play their best game of the year Sunday while beating the Cardinals, mostly the result of the offense not being as sharp as its been throughout most of the season.

But you looked up at the scoreboard at the end of the game and they scored 32 points, gave up just 16, and beaten a division foe for the second time this year to sweep the season series.

The result was a happy but not exactly satisfied team afterward.

“We were actually disappointed a little bit as far as an offense goes, just trying to capitalize and getting more touchdowns than field goals, which really seals the deal earlier in the game,” veteran Rams guard Rodger Saffold said. “So, those are the type of things you look for when you know what type of team that you have. The success, the outcomes, that you’re looking for are completely different from before.”

Said Goff: “We did start slow offensively and had some errors, especially on my part early on. Communication errors and some things at the line of scrimmage that wasn’t my best, and I can get a lot better at that.”

But again, at the end of the day the Rams won convincingly on the scoreboard.

You know who wins big even on an off day?

Good teams, that’s who.

Four games remain in this remarkable turnaround season for the Rams, beginning Sunday against the Eagles.

Beyond that looms the Seahawks, Titans and 49ers.

It’s not out of the question the Rams run the table.

But first things first. And that’s the Eagles Sunday at the Coliseum.

“This is the game where you’re able to show your talents and be able to put out there just how capable you are, to be able to help this team get a win,” Saffold said. “We have an extremely tough job next week and if we do our job, it’s going to make everybody else able to do their job a lot easier. So, we take it as a challenge, but I’ll think about that more tomorrow, when I start looking at them.”

Vincent Bonsignore is an NFL columnist for the Southern California News Group. Having covered the Los Angeles sports scene for more than two decades, Bonsignore has emerged as one of the leading voices on the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, the NFL and NFL relocation.

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